By: Levi Grayshon, Manchester, England, SSH Correspondent
Sometimes, being a woman with an interest in music can be difficult. From being a fan to being a musician, you often find yourself doubted, harassed, and disrespected.
Whenever I wear a t-shirt of a band such as Joy Division, I’m am always approached by men who doubt my knowledge of the bands, and who feel the need to tell me about that time they saw them play at Eric’s in Liverpool, how they remember when Closer was released, or even worse, start quizzing me on what tracks I know.
The assumption that I have to prove that I like a band, just because the fanbase is predominantly older and male, is sexist, simple as that. Constantly having to prove yourself, as a music fan, is tiring and frankly, I am sick of it.
The sexism, however, doesn’t stop there. One of the main places, where I feel under threat as a female music lover is at festivals and gigs. Don’t get me wrong, I adore festivals. Most of my favourite moments have taken place at festivals, from seeing The Libertines reunite at Leeds in 2010, to being on the barrier gazing up at Ryan Jarman getting carried off stage at possibly one of the most exciting shows that The Cribs have played, just this month at Y Not Festival.
Festivals are amazing, but there can be a downside to them.
An example – the group queued behind me and my friend to get into Y Not Festival behaved grossly. Every time a young woman who weighed less than 12 stones wearing shorts walked past, they’d loudly discuss her figure, shouting “nice arse!” and sniggering.
My friend and I were left alone by them, thankfully, probably because we both kept sighing, rolling our eyes in disapproval and tutting at everything they said. Either way, their behaviour was gross and highly unnecessary.
Another time, we witnessed a group of “LAD”-types chanting, “I, I Will Tear You Apart!” at girls and women walking around the campsite. What a way to completely destroy a beautiful song and use it for your misogynist bravado, fellas.
What is perhaps more shocking is the fact that these incidents happened at the calmest, most friendly festival that I have had the pleasure of attending. Even more shocking than that is that this behaviour is seen as normal. Fun. A laugh.
Recently, this article was published on Thrash Hits, where Tom Doyle discussed what he witnessed in the crowds this year at Download festival, where young women who sat on men’s shoulders for a better view were pressured into flashing their breasts both by festival-goers and camera crew.
Unfortunately, this behaviour is not a one-off – I saw it happen again and again both times that I attended Leeds Festival. What’s worse is that the young women are usually booed when they refuse, and even worse (yeah, it gets worse) is that some have had their shirts pulled down/lifted up. Sometimes even by “friends” (if a friend is willing to do that to you then newsflash – they are not your friend).
On Twitter, I asked for friends and followers to share a few stories of incidents at music events. Tales included being groped in mosh pits, being touched inappropriately, and more violent cases such as being assaulted in the form of threats and hair pulling. Seeing and hearing, and being at the receiving end of this kind of abuse highlights the fact that environments such as gigs and festivals are still very much a “boys club” and that women are about as welcome as a faulty speaker. Here are just a few of the tweets that I received:
However, it’s not just music fans who suffer from harassment at performances. Many artists that have unfortunately experienced this include Courtney Love, who had her dress ripped from her, when crowd surfing, as well as having someone attempt to sexually assault her in a much worse way, Kate Nash, who was groped at her gig, and managed to call out the perpetrator, and both Beyonce and Florence Welch have come under attack. Florence was reduced to tears.
When watching Paramore play at Leeds festival, a man in the crowd repeatedly shouted to Hayley Williams that he was in love with her, and asked her to marry him, which was laughed off by the crowd. When young girls scream this sort of thing at One Direction, it is viewed as hysterical, so why is it funny for a grown man to behave in this way – it is really necessary for a “fan” to do this to an artist? And is it really necessary for fellow music fans to treat each other so badly?
Levi graduated from university with a degree in Film and TV screenwriting this summer. As a freelance writer, she has been writing for The F-Word and Gamer-UK. You can follow her rants and ramblings on Twitter, @part_heart.
